Hate and the Brain: How Politicians Contribute to the Rise in Mental Illnesses

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I will discuss the love-hate circuit within the brain and the impact of hate on stress and anxiety. Still, I hope that the knowledge of epigenetics and how one’s choice to hate can echo throughout four generations will motivate change.

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The illogical hatred that our elected officials portray against each other, against their fellow Americans on the other side of the political aisle; fellow politicians, perceived as their enemies, agitates the mental health crisis. Their behavior indirectly influences drastic neurological damage that can decrease the mental health of four consecutive generations. This is very important to understand as we strive to maintain resilient, emotionally strong brains capable of battling stress and anxiety.

The average salary of a Senator or State Representative is $174,000. You would think that with all their experience and so-called love for their country, they would have a strong prefrontal cortex that can look past their hatred and support any policy that is good for the American people. Yet they fail to do this year by year. They scream for unity yet continue to use rhetoric that fuels hate. Anyone with an iota of executive function can clearly see this. But how can their implicit unpatriotic behavior impact the mental health of four generations? Epigenetics can give us the answer.

Their behavior is manipulating the minds of their ideological base, fueling the fire of their hatred, growing their faithful followers. Increasing the number of citizens who will develop anxiety. These followers also look past common sense as well and share the same hatred. These are those who cannot bring themselves to support or acknowledge the good from any policy from their opposition, even when it is self-evident that the policy is good for the American people. But I am not focusing on politics; I’m focusing on the impact that this hateful behavior has on our nation’s mental health. Research has shown the linkage between one’s hateful behavior, mental disorders, and genetic change impacting the future of four sequential generations.

Hate, Mental Disorders, and Gene Modification

The epigenetics processes provide the perspective of how this behavior can impact four generations. Epigenetics is the study of heritable changes in gene expression. In layman’s terms, epigenetics explains how the exposure to the environment we live in, the experiences we endure, and the chemicals that we are exposed to, influences the likelihood that one will suffer different diseases. Published in March 2016, An article in the Environmental Health Perspective Journal provides evidence of epigenetics ability to create a four generational family prone to anxiety, mental disorders, and other illnesses.

Our elected leaders’ behavior combined with news networks such as CNN, MSNBC Fox News gives the appearance of reality TV. Our adversaries fuel the flame as well with the help of our nation’s “Useful Idiots” Report_Volume2.pdf (senate.gov). I fully support our elected leaders, but as with most toxic leadership, they may not realize what they are doing.

We see legislative proposals from one side that is obviously good for the American people. Yet, the other side hates their opponents so much that they will critique and insult their opponents for the legislation they would have made themselves.

“They have a point. What they fail to grasp is that if they had been senators then, they likely would have been wrong right along with him”. If Joe Biden was wrong on crime, he had a lot of black company – Chicago Tribune

These hateful behaviors occur through an automatic mechanism within the brain. A mechanism that will increase the pain being felt by those already suffering from anxiety or PTSD. Yet, it’s still one’s choice to allow it to happen. It’s just maybe they do not realize that they can choose hate, love, or commonsense. Maybe they need a nudge in the right direction. We have great political leaders; they need to acknowledge the growth that comes with failure, put aside partisanship, and do what is best for the American people.

The Love-Hate Circuit and the Brain

In the brain, what has been termed as the “love-hate circuit” consists of the putamen, and the insula cortex is located deep inside the brain close to the center near an area called the caudate nucleus. Experiments have demonstrated when stimuli trigger love, hate, sexual desire, and disgust, the insula and the putamen increase its activity. Furthermore, in a study published in the PLOS One Journal, multiple volunteers, while being monitored by an fMRI system used to track brain activity, were exposed to various visual stimuli that would trigger love and hate emotions. This study discovered something interesting happening in the prefrontal cortex. During the processing of stimuli influencing hate, the prefrontal cortex’s activity was highly elevated and functioning very efficiently. On the opposite, the stimulation of the love emotion would hinder the ability of the prefrontal cortex.

Bottom line, when we look at someone or something that we hate, the automatic response in our brain allows us to be very analytical and closely find all faults within the stimuli that triggered the hate. However, automatic responses prevent us from finding faults in the stimuli that triggered love during a love emotion. We will overlook their faults, and we will not judge them.

“Our findings of ventromedial PFC activation suggests that when processing the associative knowledge concerned with politicians, stereotypic knowledge is activated, but in addition, the anterior prefrontal activations indicate that more elaborative, reflective knowledge about the politician is activated”.
Politics on the Brain: An fMRI Investigation

This explains why so many people are behaving the way that they are today in the political environment. The brains’ automatic responses will prevent them from accepting a conflicting political view. Their lost control of cognition influences them to focus purely on the negative. On the opposite side of the spectrum, the political leaders they love and support can lie, cheat, say awful things, flip flop, and overlook their faults. So it really isn’t their fault? Well, it is, though? It’s their choice, and maybe they do not know what is happening in their brain.

Below are a few policies that were good for the American people. However, the other side’s prefrontal cortex was a prisoner to their hate, being controlled by their minds who have developed a perception from the manipulating stimuli of their environment, can’t bring themselves to support the policy. Remember, this hate lifestyle is not good for the brain; keep that in mind as you continue reading.

Many Americans lack emotional intelligence and apply critical thinking, free of bias, while fact-checking valid sources. We have a nation of internet conditioners. I think the answer is found in the knowledge of Epigenetics and understanding that the choice to continue this hatred lifestyle will impact their next four generations’ mental health.

Hate and it’s Impact on Mental Health

How can the expression of hate impact one’s mental health? I’m talking about any level of hate—those who always comment on the negative on everything they see about those with conflicting beliefs.

Neuro-politics: Will you vote
with your cortex or limbic
system?

How is this hateful lifestyle impacting mental health in a way that will alter one’s genes? The answer is found in what happens in the brain when we are mad when we display hatred when we see something that contradicts our perceived assumption of reality, a reality that we assume is right. An emotional contradiction to our beliefs is like a knife stabbing our soul. It injures us like a physical injury. You can read further into what happens in the brain and the central nervous system when our body reacts to negative emotions.

The Brain and Emotions: Learn to Take Control of Your Response

“Psychological pain is often necessary to rouse us to overcome [our perceived wrongdoers]… this pain mobilizes our entire system for either the fight or the flight”
Prisoners of Hate- Aaron T. Beck, MD

One’s choice of hate increases the stress responses, which over time damages mental health and the health of multiple organs, a response that evolves your DNA markers and has a long-lasting impact of up to four years. You may hate the other side so bad that you lack the humility to change, but do you love yourself and your future posterity? Do you want to live a long healthy life free of illness? Well, this needs to be your motivation. STOP finding the negative in the everyday stimuli that contradicted your beliefs. Be strong and counter the hateful manipulation of the media.

Neuropolitics in the age of extremism: Brain regions involved in hatred– Dr. Henry A. Nasrallah

“But what we are currently witnessing is a distressing degeneration of politics into personal hatred and ad hominem attacks, with partisans frothing at the mouth as they describe the utter stupidity and dangerousness of their despised political opponents-cum-bitter enemies. They even declare each other “mentally ill,” which is an absurd explanation of why other people do not agree with their belief system. Neither side can find an iota of redeeming value in the political views of the “other side” and hurl insults and epithets verbally and in writing via dueling books that become instant best-sellers among the partisan aficionados on both side”s.
Henry A. Nasrallah, MD

The brain is moldable and the change that has occurred thus far can be reversed. Research with the Department of Psychiatry, University of Massachusetts Medical School demonstrates that these genetic changes can be reversed and compared to some of the diseases with higher mortality rates whose changes are influenced by environmental variables rather than emotional variables. Hate is easier to change all you have to do is choose to change your perceptions. Please do it for your mental health; keep that in mind when you choose to hate.

I call on all politicians to make a change, but I doubt that will happen. The same politicians stay in power for many years and make statements that clearly demonstrate either one, they lack emotional intelligence and do not realize the implicit damage that they are causing or two, they are social /psychopaths out to cause as much damage as possible and gain wealth off the government. My assumption, as with many toxic leaders, they do not realize what they are doing. But do not worry about them. Worry about your mental health. Be aware of the damage that anger is causing and make a change now.

Chris Pierce